


Assorted due South comment fics

by Seascribe



Category: due South
Genre: Boxing, Comment Fic, Dogs, Gen, Hypothermia, M/M, h/c
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-07
Updated: 2013-12-07
Packaged: 2018-01-03 22:04:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1073589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seascribe/pseuds/Seascribe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fraser, Kowalski, and Vecchio at a honky tonk; Dief being jealous of Vecchio's unintended new dog; Vecchio taking care of Kowalski's hands after boxing; Fraser and Vecchio forced to communicate through charades; and Fraser taking care of Kowalski after some thrilling heroics involving a freezing river.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. "RayK and RayV, for reasons that don’t need exploring at this juncture, wind up in a honkytonk. Fraser can be there too!"

"My ears are gonna start bleeding if I have to listen to one more song about a tractor," Kowalski mutters. 

Ray shudders sympathetically. “My eyes are gonna start bleeding if I see another camo hat.” He looks around for Fraser, who blends in almost alarmingly well in his civvies, and catches sight of him over by the stage. A cute girl in a ruffled blouse and cowboy boots is leaning in real close, giving him a big smile and offering him her guitar. 

Fraser puts up a polite protest, but the girl’s not giving up. She’s got her hand on Fraser’s arm now, and before Ray and Kowalski can get over there to rescue him, Fraser gives in, hopping up on the stage and taking the guitar from her.

Fraser strums a couple of test chords, and Ray groans. 

"Kowalski, go get us another round." 

Up on the stage, Fraser is singing, “Oh I can’t get off of my horse, all day and night I ride among the cattle…”


	2. "RayV looking after RayK, who hurt his hands while boxing."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt by Sproid.

"Jeez, Kowalski, why don’t you just go back to punching walls, you could save a little money on the gym membership." 

Despite the caustic tone, Vecchio’s hands are gentle as he spreads antibiotic cream over Ray’s scraped up knuckles and covers them with gauze. 

"Welsh said the next time I put a hole in the wall it was coming out of my salary," Ray mumbles. "That’d cost more than the gym membership, probably."

"Probably," Vecchio agrees. "Maybe you oughta consider some alternate methods of working through your anger issues, Kowalski."

Ray smirks at him. “You got any suggestions?” 

"A couple," Vecchio says. "Lemme get you some ice for your hands, and then maybe I’ll show you."


	3. "RayV gets a dog dumped on him and pretends to hate it. The dog loves Ray. Fraser finds the dog pleasant company. Dief is insanely jealous."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt by Vailgakami.

"I thought you said you weren’t keeping him," Fraser said, reaching into the backseat of the Riv to scratch the mutt behind the ears. It wagged its tail at him, mouth hanging open in a dopey grin. Dief huffed and gave Ray an accusatory look.

"I’m _not_ ,” Ray said. ”This is just temporary, til I find somebody else dumb enough to take him.” The dog whimpered. ”Shut up,” Ray said. ”You didn’t understand that, you’re a dog.” Another whimper. Dief made a smug noise.

"Really, Dief, there’s no call to be rude," Fraser said. "Please get in the car and attempt to be civil." Dief rolled his eyes and hopped into the back seat, staring out the window and clearly pretending that he was the only canine in the car. 

At the park, Dief flirted with poodles and their owners alike, chased squirrels, and generally showed off, looking over his shoulder every now and then to make sure that Ray and Fraser were noticing. 

Ray tried throwing a couple of sticks for the other dog, but it just sat at his feet and panted up at him adoringly. Eventually, Ray rolled his eyes and gave up. 

"He seems like a remarkably even-tempered and loyal animal," Fraser said, kneeling down to pet the dog. It gave him a cursory lick and turned its attention back to Ray. "I’m sure he’ll make a fine companion for whoever ends up adopting him." 

"Don’t you try the Mountie-guilt whammy on me," Ray said. "First person that offers to take him off my hands, he’s theirs." He sat down on a park bench, watching Dief embarrass himself in front of a lady walking her Dalmatian. The mutt followed him and put its head on his knee.

“‘Course, it could be a while before anybody comes along that wants a dumb dog like you,” Ray said to it, scratching the top of its head. ”Maybe I oughta give you a name.”


	4. "Fraser loses his voice and needs to communicate via charades with Ray."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For a prompt by Lydiastattoos.

"No, Benny, I am not taking you back to the Consulate. It's not like you're gonna get any work done. You can't talk!"

Fraser raised his eyebrows, and then his face went blank and impassive. For a second, Ray was worried the doctor had been wrong when he said Fraser hadn't suffered any brain damage, but then he realised Fraser was imitating himself on guard duty.

""No way," Ray said. "The doctor said you had to rest. I'm taking you home."

Fraser made a complicated, multi-step gesture of protest.

"You lost me, Benny," Ray said, not even trying to hide his grin. "Get in the car."

*

"You keep anything around resembling actual food that humans eat?" Ray asked, giving the inside of Fraser's fridge the hairy eyeball.

Across the room, Fraser shrugged.

"So that's a no," Ray translated. "Okay, I'm going down to the corner store to get some stuff for dinner. You stay here and get out of the uniform so you can rest like the doctor told you to. Dief, keep an eye on him."

Fraser sliced a hand through the air, the other one coming up to gesture aggressively at Ray.

"What's the matter, Fraser? You wanna get something delivered instead?"

Fraser shook his head. He pointed at Ray and made another one of those slicing gestures.

"You want me to go?" Ray asked, trying not to let his disappointment show on his face.

Fraser's eyes widened a little, and he shook his head again, emphatically. He mouthed something, slowly and precisely, but reading lips was Dief's thing, not Ray's.

"I don't get it, Benny."

Fraser rolled his eyes. He thought for a second and then held up four fingers.

"You have got to be kidding me," Ray muttered. Maria's kids had gone through a phase of trying institute a family game night and they loved charades. "Okay, okay. Four words."

Fraser nodded. He held up one finger and pointed at Ray.

"The first word is me?" Ray guessed.

Fraser nodded, stabbing his finger at Ray again for emphasis. Two fingers this time, and that slicing gesture again.

"Cut?" Ray hazarded. "You want me to, uh, julienne the vegetables for dinner?"

Fraser scowled at him, shaking his head. He held up a hand, palm out.

"Stop?" Ray said. "What do you want me to stop?"

Fraser make a series of fluttering, picking motions with his hands, and when Ray just stared at him blankly, he cradled his arms like he was rocking a baby.

"Hey, I'm not babying you!" Ray protested. "You spent the morning in the hospital, I'm just trying to make sure you take care of yourself. You scared me pretty good with that stunt, Fraser. I was worried about you."

Fraser blinked, his mouth forming a silent, "Oh." He tapped his chest a couple of times and the corner of his mouth curled up in a hesitant little smile.

"Yeah," Ray said. "Anytime, Benny."


	5. "Anything with a dripping wet RayK needing to be looked after by lovely warm Fraser."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For a prompt by Sproid.

"You can make your report tomorrow," Fraser said, turning the heat in the truck up full blast. "Right now, you need to be somewhere warm and dry."

"I'm fine," Ray mumbled through his chattering teeth. "The river's not even freezing yet."

"Submersion in water at temperatures around ten degrees centigrade can lead to death in under an hour," Fraser said shortly.

"Fraser, I was barely in for five minutes," Ray said. "What about the kid?"

"Thanks to your quick action, Jake was also only in the water for a few minutes and stands a good chance of a full recovery," Fraser said. "He's in the capable hands of the emergency medical team."

"And I'm in yours," Ray said, his mouth quirking in a smile.

"Yes," Fraser agreed. "You are."

*

At home, Fraser went straight to the woodstove and began prodding the banked coals to life, adding several more logs to the fire. Ray had learned the lessons of their quest by heart and was standing a few feet away, shedding his wet clothes and toweling himself dry before pulling on his thickest pair of socks, his longjohns, and the hand knitted toque his mother had sent in her most recent package.

"Any chance of getting a shot of whiskey in that?" he asked, nodding at the percolator Fraser had set to boil on the stovetop.

"Alcohol is a vasodilator and facilitates peripheral heat loss, lowering your core temperature," Fraser said.

"Can't have that," Ray agreed. He wrapped himself up in the afghan from the back of the sofa, curling up into a ball, still shivering. Dief jumped up and pressed against his side, licking his cheek. "Thanks, furface," Ray said, reaching out to bury his hands in Dief's ruff.

"The coffee will help," Fraser said, bringing over a steaming mug and sitting down on Ray's other side, pressed up close enough to share his own warmth. Ray shifted a little, shoving his feet under Fraser's thigh.

"My very own mountie-shaped personal furnace," Ray said, grinning at him over the rim of the coffee mug. "You think once I finish this we could do a little skin-to-skin rewarming?"

"Despite its popularity in fictional media, skin-to-skin contact is one of the least effect methods of raising a hypothermic person's core temperature," Fraser said, but he pressed a little closer, sliding one of his hands up underneath the afghan.

"I was only a _little_ hypothermic," Ray said. He held out a hand. "Nails aren't even turning blue. You think we could let it slide?"

"Well, perhaps just this once," Frase agreed, wrapping his hand around Ray's and tucking it back underneath the blanket.


End file.
